FOOTBALL WITH A FRYING PAN

Nick Michaels
Copyright 2015 American Voice Corp. All Rights Reserved

I was sitting watching television with my wife and daughters who enjoy watching cooking programs. Now normally I try to stay away from television unless it's a motion picture, which I enjoy, but I wanted to spend some time with them, so I sat there and watched. After a little while I realized what I was watching was not a cooking show but a competition. It was a football game played with frying pans. There were four chefs competing, They would each create some dish which would then be judged and in the end one would be the winner and the rest would lose.

I thought to myself wouldn't it be great if instead of competing against each other, these four chefs would collaborate and create something together. All of them could bring their particular unique talent to the table and we would be the beneficiaries of that delicious harmony. Instead of the food equivalent of the Packers versus the Bears it would be the food equivalent of Crosby Stills, Nash And Young.

Today the massive amount of information we are being subjected to creates an endless and ever expanding competition for our limited time.  That is a direct result of the over communicated environment and it is reflected in the programming. The polarization it creates is getting stronger and stronger. Black versus white, rich versus poor, police versus demonstrators, there is very little harmony. Instead of diplomacy and understanding we have war and torture. Instead of musical harmony we have musical competition.

The other day someone asked me why I do my radio show called The Deep End With Nick Michaels. The answer is so we can hear the harmony again.

TEXTING vs TALKING

Nick Michaels
Copyright 2014 American Voice Corp. All Rights Reserved
First, a man named Samuel Morse developed the single wire telegraph as a means of rapid communication. It was text based, had a code and every letter was used sparingly. Later a man named Alexander Graham Bell invented a way to speak into the telegraph wire. Now you could actually hear the other party, including all the nuances in the human voice.
Texting vs Talking. It looks to me like Morse won the re-match.

Alexander Graham Bell

Samuel F Morse

LESS THAN ZERO

Nick Michaels
Copyright American Voice Corp. 2014 All Rights Reserved

The advertiser's need to sell something is no longer a burden, annoyance or interruption the audience in the over communicated world is willing to take on. Either the advertising becomes much much better or the cost of the ads will revert to their actual value. Less than zero

WHY PRE-ROLL IS A BAD WAY TO POSITION YOUR MESSAGE

Nick Michaels
Copyright American Voice Corp. 2014 All Rights Reserved.

The advertisers need to sell is no longer something the audience is willing to take on. The reason for this is the price of their time in the over communicated world has gone up a lot. So much that  it is much more valuable to them than your message. If your message is only about selling your product it is not worth their newly valued time.

Pre-Roll is a bad placement. It is a subliminal nightmare. it is an imposition and a tool of separation. Most people hate them and find them annoying with only a few exceptions. Those exceptions are stories that are so compelling that the audience is not upset about having their time hi-jacked because what they got was even better than the content they went looking for. You can bet the farm that every single one of those exceptions is a great story. Not one is a sales job.

Instead of forcing the audience to sit through your ad, causing them to dislike you. Why not engage them with a story. A story that they want to watch. Then figure out how to sell your stuff without it looking like you are selling at all.

THEY'RE SMARTER THAN YOU THINK AND THEY KNOW IT WHEN YOU KNOW IT

Nick Michaels
Copyright American Voice Corp. 2014 All Rights Reserved

It has been an axiom of mass media to always play to the lowest common denominator. In the over communicated world I think that sends the wrong message subliminally. When you speak to the audience in an intelligent manner you are sending a message that says "I don't think you are dumb." The audience feels this and is grateful for it. It gets right back to where your focus is. Is it on your product or on your consumer? It's part of how we have to respect the new audience in this new environment. Respect their time, their feelings and their intelligence.

It is the same with the way your message is built. Generally, messages that open with the product get skipped. I read recently where 60% of online advertising is either skipped or ignored. Why? the answer is simple, you are interrupting someone who is looking for, or at, something else. This makes online ads even more ANNOYING than TV or radio ads, which is quite a feat..... unless it is such an interesting story that the interruption is considered an added benefit instead of an annoyance.

All this subliminal is now more important than the overt. The tone is more important than the words, the speed at which it is read is more important than what you are saying. The language you use is connected to the consumer's feelings about the message. Slow is better than fast. Smart is better than dumb. Quiet is better than loud. All of the above should factor into every part of your message.

THE STORY IS EVERYTHING

Nick Michaels
Copyright American Voice Corp. 2014 All Rights Reserved

I was clicking on a video on YouTube when this ad came on. I always skip ads. I didn't skip this one. I watched it for 5 minutes. It's an ad disguised as a story. I bet you won't stop watching.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54uzEouACYs

BIG AND POWERFUL vs SMALL AND HUMAN

Nick Michaels

Copyright American Voice Corp. 2014 All Rights Reserved

It wasn’t that long ago that computers were thought of as machines whose primary purpose was business. The company that was king of the technology sector for many years had “BUSINESS” as its middle name. IBM, International Business Machines. Only big powerful corporations could afford them or use them. They were all about business, right down to their strict dress code.

Apple, on the other hand, saw the computer as being about human connection and creativity. That spark that ignites something inside of us. Something that becomes a song or a report or a photo or a recipe or a relationship or new enterprise…The world is getting very corporate and that corporate world is less and less people friendly every day. The smart players realize this and make their messages with a great deal of humility. From the way it is written to the way it is narrated. It’s not cool to be big and powerful. It’s cool to be small and agile and quick and emotional and human and connected and caring. Something to keep in mind when you craft your messages either for your client or your station.